Determination of Hay Quality of Some Companion Crops Sown with Red Clover

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine the effects of sowing rates and harvest stages of three companion crops (barley, triticale and forage pea) sown with red clover on hay quality in Samsun conditions. Field studies were conducted at two different experiments arranged as randomized complete plots with three replications. Companion crop sowing rates were 150, 300, 450 and 600 seeds m-2 for barley; 200, 350, 500 and 650 seeds m-2 for triticale and 20, 40, 60 and 80 seeds m-2 for forage pea. Cereals + red clover mixtures were harvested at the flag leaf or milk dough stages. Forage pea + red clover mixtures were harvested at the 50% flowering or poding (70% of pods have typical size) stages. Acid detergent fibre (ADF), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), crude ash, protein, Ca, Mg, K and P contents of hay were determined. Forage quality significantly varied with treatments. While the highest crude ash content was obtained from barley harvested at flag leaf stage (97.5 - 99.9 g kg-1), the highest crude protein content was obtained from pea harvested at flowering stage (193.9 - 205.6 g kg-1). ADF concentration of hay varied between 306.7 and 432.1 g kg-1. Apart from Ca content of hay, Mg, K and P contents were adequate for ruminants.